Abstract
Wild pedagogies rest on two premises. First, human relationships with Earth are not sustainable, and second, education is a necessary partner in any transformational project of the scale required to address the first premise. It will not be enough to simply reform existing educational institutions, it is suggested that they must be re-wilded. This chapter takes a critical look at some ways that human relationships with Earth have been framed through the idea of wilderness. It also considers how the concept of wilderness, and wildness, might be re-negotiated in the Anthropocene.
The Crex Crex Collective includes: Hebrides, I., Independent Scholar; Ramsey Affifi, University of Edinburgh; Sean Blenkinsop, Simon Fraser University; Hans Gelter, Guide Natura & Luleå, University of Technology; Douglas Gilbert, Trees for Life; Joyce Gilbert, Trees for Life; Ruth Irwin, Independent Scholar; Aage Jensen, Nord University; Bob Jickling, Lakehead University; Polly Knowlton Cockett, University of Calgary; Marcus Morse, La Trobe University; Michael De Danann Sitka-Sage, Simon Fraser University; Stephen Sterling, University of Plymouth; Nora Timmerman, Northern Arizona University; and Andrea Welz, Sault College.
Bob Jickling (bob.jickling@lakeheadu.ca) is the corresponding author.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See, for example, Clive Hamilton, Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change (Washington: Earthscan, 2010); Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2014); John Foster, After Sustainability: Denial, Hope Retrieval (New York: Routledge, 2015).
- 2.
See, for example: Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2014).
- 3.
See for example: Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, What is Philosophy? Trans. G. Burchell & H. Tomlinson (London: Verso, 1994).
- 4.
William Cronon, “The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature,” in Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. W. Cronon, 69–90 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996): 69.
- 5.
See for example: Emma Morris, The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013).
- 6.
Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness, 70.
- 7.
Ibid., 69.
- 8.
Dave Foreman, The Great Conservation Divide: Conservation Vs. Resourcism on America’s Public Lands (Durango, CO: Ravens Eye Press, 2014).
- 9.
James Hunter, On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands (Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 1995): 24.
- 10.
Ibid., 25–26.
- 11.
Ibid., 135.
- 12.
Reported in Hunter, On the Other Side, 20.
- 13.
Note: there are twenty-six tribes have ancestral connections to Yellowstone.
- 14.
J. Peepre, “Protected Areas and Wilderness in the North,” in Northern Protected Areas and Wilderness, ed. J. Peepre and Bob Jickling, 5–19 (Whitehorse: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yukon College, 1994): 11.
- 15.
Norma Kassi, “In a Panel Discussion: What Is a Good Way to Teach Children and Young Adults to Respect the Land?” In A Colloquium on Environment, Ethics, and Education, ed. B. Jickling, 32–48 (Whitehorse: Yukon College, 1996): 42.
- 16.
Norma Kassi, “Science, Ethics and Wildlife Management,” in Northern Protected Areas and Wilderness, ed. J. Peepre and Bob Jickling, 212–216 (Whitehorse: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yukon College, 1994): 215.
- 17.
Hunter, On the Other Side, 47.
- 18.
Ibid., 43–44.
- 19.
The term “wild nature ” is used here to describe the non-human-controlled world. This connects us to the old Scandinavian dichotomy between “kulturmark” and “vildmark.” “Kulturmark” describes the fenced “cultural land” of the agricultural pre-modern farmers. This land surrounded early agricultural dwellings, and was controlled by humans. In this fenced kulturmark, vegetables and crops were grown, and livestock was kept during nights. The opposite, outside the fenced and controlled area, was the waste “vildmark.” This wild land was seen as wild and dangerous. This is where beasts, trolls, and the mystic and mythological “spirits and entities” dwelled. Kulturmark was a safe place, while vildmark were dangerous places that required experience and knowledge to travel and survive in. However, this agricultural view of the land was not shared by the nomadic Sami people from Sápmi land in northern Scandinavia. These Sami people lived in the land, without this dichotomy between wild and cultivated spaces. They followed the migration of reindeer from the summer habitats the mountains to winter habitats in the lower boreal forests near the coast. For the Sami people , there was no “wilderness.” There was just the free land to travel and live in. This pre-modern agricultural relationship to the land and nature has dominated our present cultural understanding of nature, while ignoring the understanding of the land by the Indigenous non-agricultural people. For the Sami people, calling the Laponia Wild Heritage Area, or Sarek National Park in Northern Sweden, the “last wilderness of Europe” is an insult to their lifestyle. Labeling their home “wilderness” is a colonial offence to their heritage. For the Sami people this “wilderness” is not a wild land, but rather a free land. Here the reindeer can roam freely and prosper. This stands in stark contrast to the more recently “cultivated” land in the coastal areas of northern Scandinavia. Here cities and villages, roads, mining, industries, agriculture, power stations and flooded land, and other modern constructions, restrict the free roaming of the reindeer, and the Sami culture. A better way to describe wilderness would be “free nature.” But, the world “free” has its own limitations in biological and ecological senses. So I will use “wild nature,” despite its drawbacks.
- 20.
Marie Battiste , “You Can’t Be the Global Doctor If You’re the Colonial Disease,” in Teaching as Activism: Equity Meets Environmentalism, ed. Peggy Tripp and Linda Muzzin, 121–133 (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005): 124.
- 21.
There are many analyses of dualisms . These examples are drawn from: David Abram , The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World (New York: Vintage, 1997): Neil Evernden, The Natural Alien: Humankind and Environment (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).
- 22.
See, for example: Rebecca Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, Ecojustice Education: Toward Diverse, Democratic, and Sustainable Communities (London: Routledge, 2011).
- 23.
Chet Bowers, Education, Cultural Myths and the Ecological Crisis: Toward Deep Changes (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1993).
- 24.
William Cronon, “Introduction: In Search of Nature,” in Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. William Cronon, 23–56 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996): 34.
- 25.
Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness, 88.
- 26.
William Cronon, “Forward,” in Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. William Cronon, 19–22 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996): 21–22.
- 27.
Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, 1997.
- 28.
Bill McKibben, The End of Nature (New York: Random House Publishing, 1989).
- 29.
Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012).
- 30.
Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life (Boston: South End Press, 2008).
- 31.
Val Plumwood, “Paths Beyond Human-Centeredness,” in An Invitation to Environmental Philosophy, ed. Anthony Weston, 69–105 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).
- 32.
Plumwood, “Paths Beyond Human-Centeredness,” 69.
- 33.
Ibid., 77.
- 34.
Sean Blenkinsop, and Laura Piersol, “Listening to the Literal: Orientations: Towards How Nature Communicates,” Phenomenology & Practice 7, no. 2 (2013): 41–60.
- 35.
Abram, Spell of the Sensuous, 1997.
- 36.
David Grunewald, “Foundations of Place: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Place-Conscious Education,” American Educational Research Journal 40, no. 3 (2003): 619–654.
- 37.
Plumwood, “Paths Beyond Human-Centeredness,” 101.
- 38.
Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness, 88.
- 39.
Arne Naess with Bob Jickling, “Deep Ecology and Education: A Conversation with Arne Næss,” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 5, no. 1 (2000): 48–62.
- 40.
Anthony Weston, “What If Teaching Went Wild,” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 9, no. 1 (2004): 11–30.
- 41.
Michael Derby, Laura Piersol, and Sean Blenkinsop, “Refusing to Settle for Pigeons and Parks: Urban Environmental Education in the Age of Neoliberalism,” Environmental Education Research 21, no. 3 (2015): 378–389.
- 42.
Gary Snyder, “Language Goes Two Ways,” in The Alphabet of Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing, ed. Christian McEwen & Mark Statman, 1–5 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000): 1.
- 43.
Jim Cheney, and Anthony Weston, “Environmental Ethics as Environmental Etiquette: Toward an Ethics-Based Epistemology,” Environmental Ethics 21, no. 2 (1999): 115–134.
References
Abram, D. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Vintage, 1997.
Battiste, M. “You Can’t Be the Global Doctor If You’re the Colonial Disease.” In Teaching as Activism: Equity Meets Environmentalism, ed. P. Tripp and L. Muzzin. Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005: 121–133.
Blenkinsop, S., and L. Piersol. “Listening to the Literal: Orientations: Towards How Nature Communicates.” Phenomenology & Practice 7, no. 2 (2013): 41–60.
Bowers, C. Education, Cultural Myths and the Ecological Crisis: Toward Deep Changes. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.
Cheney, J., and A. Weston. “Environmental Ethics as Environmental Etiquette: Toward an Ethics-Based Epistemology.” Environmental Ethics 21, no. 2 (1999): 115–134.
Cronon, W. “Introduction: In Search of Nature.” In Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. W. Cronon. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996a: 23–56.
———. “The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.” In Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, ed. W. Cronon. New York: W.W. Norton, 1996b: 69–90.
Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. What Is Philosophy? Translated by G. Burchell & H. Tomlinson. London: Verso, 1994.
Derby, M., L. Piersol, and S. Blenkinsop. “Refusing to Settle for Pigeons and Parks: Urban Environmental Education in the Age of Neoliberalism.” Environmental Education Research 21, no. 3 (2015): 378–389.
Evernden, N. The Natural Alien: Humankind and Environment. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.
Foreman, D. The Great Conservation Divide: Conservation Vs. Resourcism on America’s Public Lands. Durango, CO: Ravens Eye Press, 2014.
Foster, J. After Sustainability: Denial, Hope Retrieval. New York: Routledge, 2015.
Grunewald, D. “Foundations of Place: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Place-Conscious Education.” American Educational Research Journal 40, no. 3 (2003): 619–654.
Hamilton, C. Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth About Climate Change. Washington: Earthscan, 2010.
Hunter, J. On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 1995.
Kassi, N. “Science, Ethics and Wildlife Management.” In Northern Protected Areas and Wilderness, ed. J. Peepre and Bob Jickling. Whitehorse: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yukon College, 1994: 212–216.
———. “In a Panel Discussion: What Is a Good Way to Teach Children and Young Adults to Respect the Land?” In A Colloquium on Environment, Ethics, and Education, ed. B. Jickling. Whitehorse: Yukon College, 1996: 32–48.
Klein, N. This Changes Everything: Capitalism Vs. the Climate. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2014.
Kolbert, E. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2014.
LaDuke, W. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Boston: South End Press, 2008.
Martusewicz, R., J. Edmundson, and J. Lupinacci. Ecojustice Education: Toward Diverse, Democratic, and Sustainable Communities. London: Routledge, 2011.
McKibben, B. The End of Nature. New York: Random House Publishing, 1989.
Morris, E. The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World. New York. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.
Morton, T. The Ecological Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012.
Næss, A. with B. Jickling. “Deep Ecology and Education: A Conversation with Arne Næss.” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 5, no. 1 (2000): 48–62.
Peepre, J. “Protected Areas and Wilderness in the North.” In Northern Protected Areas and Wilderness, ed. J. Peepre and B. Jickling. Whitehorse: Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Yukon College, 1994: 5–19.
Plumwood, V. “Paths Beyond Human-Centeredness.” In An Invitation to Environmental Philosophy, ed. A. Weston. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999: 69–105.
Snyder, G. “Language Goes Two Ways.” In The Alphabet of Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing, ed. Christian McEwen and Mark Statman. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000: 1–5.
Weston, A. “What If Teaching Went Wild.” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 9, no. 1 (2004): 11–30.
Acknowledgements
Crex crex is the taxonomical name given to the Corncrake. We have chosen this bird to represent our collective because it was an important collaborator in this project and because its onomatopoeic name beautifully mirrors its call—a raspy crex crex. For some reason , it chooses to fly over England and breeds in Scotland and Ireland. Presumably this is due to loss of habitat in modern England, but perhaps these birds sense some epicenter of empire there? Who is to know?
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
The Crex Crex Collective., Jickling, B. (2018). On Wilderness. In: Jickling, B., Blenkinsop, S., Timmerman, N., De Danann Sitka-Sage, M. (eds) Wild Pedagogies. Palgrave Studies in Educational Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90176-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90176-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90175-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90176-3
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)